Amarnath Yatra suspended due to incessant rains in Jammu and Kashmir

Srinagar: Amarnath Yatra was on Friday suspended on Baltal and Pahalgam routes due to incessant rainfall since last night.[caption id="attachment_2321258" align="alignleft" width="380"] Amarnath yatra. PTI[/caption] "The Yatra has been suspended from both Baltal and Pahalgam routes due to rains which made the track slippery," a police official said. The weather is right now dry around the holy cave shrine in South Kashmir Himalayas, the official said, adding the helicopter service to the cave shrine was operating as usual. Meanwhile, two more pilgrims died on Thursday due to cardiac arrest, taking the death toll to six since the commencement of the yatra on 2 July. Surinder Kumar, a resident of Ganga nagar in Rajasthan, suffered cardiac arrest at Baltal. He was rushed to Skims hospital here where he died, the official said. Another pilgrim Suresh Jatwa, hailing from Madhya Pradesh, died due to cardiac arrest at the holy cave, he said. So far, more that 1.10 lakh pilgrims have paid obeisance to the naturally-formed ice Shivlingam inside the 3,880 meter high cave shrine. The tenth batch comprising 2,422 pilgrims on Friday left from the base camp here to the holy cave shrine of Amarnath in South Kashmir Himalayas amid tight security. However, more than 2,000 passenger vehicles, including 68 carrying Kashmir-bound Amarnath pilgrims, were left stranded on the Jammu-Srinagar National highway, following its closure due to massive landslides at several places triggered byovernight rainfall. PTI